When getting started in photography, it's easy to get enamored with all the enticing equipment out there and go on a spending spree, listening to everything everyone suggests you need in the process. However, most of the photo gear people say you "absolutely need" to be a successful photographer isn't as important as they may make it seem, and it's critical to develop your own workflow of tools.

Location, location, location. That's what someone who is just getting started in wildlife photography will tell you is the secret to the trade. Certainly, the wildlife available in the remote Sahara of Africa is far more interesting to those who are used to the rolling hills of Ohio, but there are two other key components to successful wildlife photography: preparedness and luck.

There is no denying that zoom lenses have far more versatility than prime lenses, and with faster-apertured zoom lenses becoming more and more common in the photography world, I figured it was time to truly give them the spotlight they deserve.